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Eric Woodyard
DETROIT — At the 12:50 mark in the fourth quarter of the Lions’ Week 2 game against the Chicago Bears, Aidan Hutchinson took five gleeful steps toward the near sideline. First, he angled his head down and flanked his arms like airplane wings. Then, as his pace slowed, he stretched them out wide and lifted his head toward the Ford Field ceiling.
As a majority of the 64,201 Lions fans in attendance stood and celebrated in the seats around him, Hutchinson fixed his eyes upward, brought both hands to his face mask and then back out again, as if giving the emotional scene around him a kiss. Then, as his gaze turned to the appreciative fans, he repeated the gesture again, and then again.
It was a moment Hutchinson had waited 336 days to experience again. Seconds before, he had beaten Bears offensive lineman Braxton Jones with a move to the outside and wrapped up quarterback Caleb Williams for his first sack since suffering a broken leg in the Lions’ Oct. 13 win against the Dallas Cowboys. The injury ended what was shaping up to be his best season as a pro.
For Hutchinson, the sack against the Bears was a “flipping of a page” moment after his 11-month journey back from the injury.
“It was really just a lot of gratitude in that moment for how far I’ve come,” Hutchinson told ESPN. “And obviously I’ve been cleared for a while, I’ve been healthy, but getting that one and feeling support and getting it at home, too.
“There was something about it that was really special, and I just want to build on it.”
Three games, four sacks and three forced fumbles later, Hutchinson has fully healed and is playing like one of the league’s elite pass rushers, picking up where his breakout 2024 season left off. The 2022 No. 2 draft pick leads the NFL in sacks created this season (8.0) and pressures (20), according to ESPN Research, including a league-high eight in the Lions’ Week 4 victory against the Cleveland Browns. Before the injury, he was the betting favorite to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and his play this far is pointing to another dominant season in 2025.
But his journey back has not been seamless or easy. Instead, it was filled with both moments of victory and hardship during an arduous rehabilitation process. He wasn’t able to walk for the first few weeks after his Oct. 13, 2024, surgery. He spent days crying with family members as the weight of the injury set in. And he worried those same family members when ramping up his rehab in hopes of returning for a potential Lions Super Bowl appearance. In addition to the support of his loved ones, he had a powerful source of motivation helping to push him along.
Since being drafted by the Lions, Hutchinson, as part of his Hutch Heroes nonprofit initiative, has set aside time to meet with and provide a source of inspiration for local children battling life-threatening and genetic conditions. As he arrives for each game, Hutchinson carries a water jug with one of their names written as a show of support and source of motivation.
During his rehab, the children returned the favor, sending him heartfelt videos of encouragement, including a 43-second montage of them holding water jugs with Hutchinson’s name on them. Hutchinson and those closest to him say the children’s example and continued support at such a difficult time in his life gave him extra inspiration to return to the field better than ever as he tries to lead Detroit to its first Super Bowl title.
“There’s not many things I think that inspire Aidan,” said Hutchinson’s older sister, Mia. “A lot of pep talks they don’t really do it. He’s more a person that needs to see examples of real-life situations for him to be like, ‘Wow, this is what I’m playing for.’ And those are the kids in the hospital that fight every single day for their lives with a smile on their face.”
With 11:54 remaining in the third quarter of the Lions’ game against the Cowboys in Dallas last October, Hutchinson beat Cowboys right tackle Terence Steele with an outside move and closed in on quarterback Dak Prescott. As Hutchinson wrapped up high for the sack, his left leg violently swung underneath him and struck defensive tackle Alim McNeill as McNeill was being pushed past Prescott by a Cowboys offensive lineman. The result was clear: Lying on the ground, Hutchinson immediately clutched the leg, which had snapped just above the ankle, as players from both teams looked on with concern.
Once carted off the field, Hutchinson was rushed to Baylor White Medical Center in Irving, Texas, where he underwent emergency surgery and had a steel rod implanted in the leg. Days later, he returned home to Detroit with a number of unexpected challenges awaiting him.
Hutchinson said the first few weeks after the injury were rough. He couldn’t walk without crutches, nor could he put any weight on the injured leg, instead relying on an around-the-clock rotation of family members to attend to him and help him get around.
“I didn’t want him like falling down the stairs or something,” his mother Melissa Hutchinson said.
For the first two weeks, he was flooded with emotions. And he allowed himself time to feel the sadness the injury had brought.
“We all cried together. I think we all were just going over to his house, just being there as much as possible,” Mia said. “Playing games with him and just talking about normal things. You know you have to get past a certain timeline.
“Even with grief or anything, you have to sit [with] grief for a little while and by Day 11 it was like, ‘OK, I had enough time to sit with this, now I’m done and I’m switching my perspective,'” she said. “I think that’s when we all went into overdrive, like ‘Cool, OK, back to business as usual.'”
Hutchinson began his rehabilitation process the day after he returned from Dallas. His mother drove him to those early sessions where she watched him push through various physical hurdles in his effort to come back.
Detroit’s training staff, spearheaded by head strength and conditioning coach Josh Schuler, implemented blood-flow restriction therapy — a technique that partially restricts blood flow to a specific area to ultimately increase strength — and other methods to keep him on track.
“I remember we were at rehab and they were doing the restrictive blood flow and it’s really painful [for Aidan],” Melissa Hutchinson said. “… It was kind of the first time he was doing it and I was like, ‘Oh, my God’ and he was like, ‘Don’t feel sorry for me.’ As a mom, you don’t want to see your kid in pain and he hates anyone feeling sorry for him.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell said he expected a four- to six-month recovery process for Hutchinson, given his commitment and mindset to get back on the field. That tracked with the comeback timetable Hutchinson had set for himself: If the Lions reached the Super Bowl that following February (four months after the injury) and he was cleared to return, nobody, he said, was going to stop him from playing in that game. His family, however, was concerned that an early return could compromise the long-term health of his leg.
“Honestly, I was a little worried that we were going to go to the Super Bowl, because I was like ‘Oh, my gosh,’ he’s going to push himself. There was no way he wasn’t going to play,” Melissa said.
Once the Lions were beaten by the Washington Commanders in the divisional round, those fears were eased. And around late March, Hutchinson began performance training with David Lawrence, his private strength coach, and Jim Kielbaso, his private speed coach — sessions that continued up until the start of training camp in July.
His personal fitness team focused on improving his strength and acceleration while regaining his explosiveness, which can get lost with being away from the game for so long. He said he was training with the mindset of returning better than before.
Hutchinson also journaled his experiences, recorded voice notes to keep himself uplifted, and practiced mindfulness activities — anything to be able to play again.
“Aidan does an amazing job of being consistent — of doing the basics really well. He has a sleep routine that he does to make sure he’s getting eight, nine, 10 hours of sleep at night,” Lawrence said. “He’s always drinking a gallon-plus a day of water, and for any athlete, if you sleep and you hydrate yourself, you’re always putting yourself in the best possible position to be successful. He has a lot of these habits that he’s been doing for a long time and it’s really made him who he is.”
Following an intense training camp session in August 2024, Hutchinson didn’t head straight to the locker room.
Instead, he had spotted 13-year-old Max Robertson standing off to the side with his family. He walked over, then squatted down so he was at eye level with the teenager, sweat still soaking his No. 97 practice jersey.
“I love you,” Robertson told Hutchinson.
Robertson, who has Down syndrome, hugged and snapped a number of photos with Hutchinson. He also received autographs and hit the Griddy dance together with the towering D-lineman.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Hutchinson said. “It’s kids like that who love the game more than anything. It’s very inspiring.”
Following practice today, #Lions star Aidan Hutchinson spent time with 13 y/o Max Robertson, who suffers from down syndrome as part of his Hutch’s Heroes program, where he connects with special needs children. “That’s what it’s all about,” Hutchinson said. “…Very inspiring.” pic.twitter.com/eqsBoLAIGX
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) August 2, 2024
Robertson, a Plymouth, Michigan, native, is among the countless children with special needs that Hutchinson has bonded with individually since entering the league out of the University of Michigan. Hutchinson also regularly connects with children battling serious illnesses such as cancer and leukemia throughout the season. He randomly visits patients at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and often checks in with them by sending personal videos of encouragement via text.
Since high school, Hutchinson has carried around a plastic, clear gallon jug filled with distilled water to stay hydrated and help keep his body in peak form. He has continued that tradition in the NFL, but with a twist: He writes the names of the children with whom he has bonded on whatever water jug he’s carrying each week.
Hutchinson says he uses the children’s stories as motivation on the field for the next game; his water jugs with their names scribbled in black marker on the side have been a consistent image as he enters the stadium since his rookie season.
“That’s why we make them the heroes because they inspire others, they inspire me to go and I get to have fun, play football, do my thing, but you get to raise awareness for these kids who are the real heroes,” Hutchinson told ESPN.
Among those inspiring Hutchinson is James Phillips, a 14-year-old diagnosed with osteosarcoma bone cancer in 2023. Phillips, a freshman at Powers Catholic High School in Flint, Michigan, had his left arm amputated as part of his treatment. Another is 9-year-old Ryder Finkel, who is battling DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma) — a terminal brain cancer.
“When you get this diagnosis, there’s a certain feeling of isolation you have and that can be very scary,” said Tim Finkel, Ryder’s dad. “What Hutch, and his family as a whole, have provided for our family has helped us to not feel so isolated because they have really had a commitment to walking this very difficult road with us and fighting with us.”
That kindness was returned after Hutchinson’s injury.
Days after Hutchinson’s surgery, Ryder and his brother, Wyatt, sent a personal video showing their support as the Lions star was picking himself up.
Along that same time, Ryder’s cancer began impacting his motor functions and physical abilities, which necessitated weekly rehab sessions to teach him how to walk again. Ryder shared his rehab videos with Hutchinson — they were often doing the same types of exercises — and Hutchinson would respond with videos of himself working to regain his strength.
“Being in the hospital for two days, it was probably some of the most miserable days of my life,” Hutchinson told ESPN. “So, just thinking about the pain that you’re going through — and I think about some of those kids that have been in the hospital for 30 days, two months or whatever it may be, and if I’m in there for two days and I can’t stand the beeping, the people coming in every two hours, and it’s like these kids live it. Their families live it.
“The siblings of the affected ones live it, and you grow that empathy and you grow that understanding for what people go through.”
For four straight games this season, Hutchinson has recorded at least one sack, which ties the Lions’ single-season franchise record. He also set a franchise mark by producing at least one sack and a forced fumble in three consecutive games.
Hutchinson’s return has reinstalled confidence within Detroit’s defense, a year after a rash of injuries hamstrung its 2024 season.
By December, the Lions had 21 players on the injured reserve list, which was the most in the NFL through that month. Sixteen were defensive players, which was also the most in the league at that point. That missing talent led to Detroit being bounced by Washington in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
Nine months later, No. 97’s presence back in the fold now offers reassurance.
“Just his energy on the field, when you have a guy like that you know that can dominate, it just feels like old times especially with all of us being healthy and being out there on the field together. It feels good,” Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes said. “You can depend on him.”
Just three days into training camp, it didn’t take long for new Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard to reach a conclusion about Hutchinson. Even with the D-lineman coming off his leg injury, Sheppard described Hutchinson as a “better player than we had last year,” because of his focus on development while rehabbing.
In 2024, Hutchinson was able to get off to a record-setting start, with 7.5 sacks through five games, but has faced a 20.3% double-team rate on the edge this season (11th among 53 qualified players) as Sheppard is trying to free him from double teams. That rate was 31.5% last year, leading the NFL.
“Hutch is the caliber player that he is and everybody in the league knows it,” Sheppard said. “Turn on San Fran tape and tell me who’s one-on-one blocking [49ers edge rusher] Nick Bosa. Turn on Green Bay tape when you get an eight-game sample size, who’s one-on-one blocking [Packers edge rusher] Micah Parsons?
“When you’re the elite of the elite, people are going to plan for you and that’s why he’s the caliber player that he is,” he said.
Inside the Lions’ locker room, his teammates respect his talent, but they also recognize that there are things deeper than football. They see Hutchinson being relatable to children who look up to him and in turn, he carries those kids’ names with him for every game. As a result, his return from the injury is also inspiring the team as they try to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl.
“I don’t know if I can really put a value on that, because I don’t know if there’s a big enough number. I mean, he’s extremely valuable,” Campbell said of Hutchinson’s importance to the defense. “The number of things that he’s able to do for us in the run and the pass game. Man, it takes up — he pulls a lot of slack, man.
“You talk about pulling your weight, he pulls his weight and then some,” he said. “He requires a lot of resources offensively, which helps everybody else out. Guys like him, he’s in that rare world of man, you don’t get the easy way out.”
